Without limiting the scope of the invention, its background is described in connection with methods and devices for the detection of CNT's.
Carbon nanotubes are among the most widely used carbon-based nanomaterials. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are sp2-hybridized carbon arranged in a cylindrical nanostructure, and CNTs attracted much attention after Iijima's remarkable paper on carbon nanotubes in 1991. Since then, CNTs have been studied and applied intensively in various fields because of their fascinating electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties.
One area of potential CNT use is in the area of agricultural production, such as smart delivery systems, nanoemulsions, nanosensors, and nanocatalysts for pesticides and other chemicals. Currently, thousands of chemicals are used for agricultural production throughout the United States. Many compounds have a high adsorption affinity for organic carbon and allow CNTs to act as a vehicle for delivery of agricultural chemicals to sites of toxic action or certain surfaces in pest species. In addition, nanomaterials may be used as modifiers of chemical behavior in the environment and for contaminant remediation that can reduce risk to non-target organisms. Common methods of detecting trace amounts of CNT, i.e. electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, florescence, etc., have practical difficulties that limit effectiveness and limit the detection.
Prior to this discovery, the majority of art patents and publications describe the use of microwaves for the creation and purification of CNT's. Most prior art methods use electrical current as a thermal generator and detail the unusually high thermal conductivity in CNTs but do not detail microwave application as a method to induce thermal conductivity as a detection method. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,080,199, entitled, “Interaction of microwaves with carbon nanotubes to facilitate modification,” discloses crosslinking of carbon nanotubes to each other using microwave radiation, articles of manufacture produced by such methods, compositions produced by such methods, and applications for such compositions and articles of manufacture.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20080227168 entitled, “Methods and Materials for Extra and Intracellular Delivery of Carbon Nanotubes,” discloses compositions and methods to deliver carbon nanostructures that include agents for delivery to cells, wherein the carbon nanostructure and the agent are made soluble by coating the carbon nanostructure with one or more polymers, e.g., low band gap conductive polymers.